Pancake Lens

It’s nimble and small. In fact, it’s the smallest lens I have ever owned. On paper, it is a handmade beauty from Japan. The MS Optical Perar 24mm f/4 Super Wide is produced in the basement workshop of Mr. Sadayasu Miyazaki. When I first read about it, I was infatuated because I always wanted a pancake lens. There was one small issue. It was an M mount and I use a Sony A7. There was a quick easy fix though, a Metabones Leica M Lens to Sony NEX E-Mount Adapter. So I spent my money on it while having no clue what to expect with this lens. It could have been crap or wonderful on the A7. It was a risk I was willing to take and here is what I think.

Photographer-turned-camera-trainer Mark Toal of Portland, OR might just be taking the term “pancake lens” too literally and you just might be tempted to do the same.

In his latest Vimeo upload, Toal, who also writes for MirrorlessPhotoTips.com, is going to teach us how to make a pancake lens for micro four thirds systems… with actual real pancakes! No, this isn’t a late April Fool’s joke! He’s really figured out how to make a pinhole lens out of real pancakes, which makes for a fun little DIY project that you can do in just a few minutes in the comfort of your own kitchen.

All you’ll need are pancakes, a lens shade, a stainless steel barbecue skewer, a micro four thirds camera sans the lens, and a less than 10 minutes of your time. This project is so easy you can do it on a lazy Sunday with your little future photographers. And the best part about it is you won’t have to spend time making these breakfast delights – just grab a $4 box of frozen ones from the store like Toal did!

Watch Toal’s short tutorial on how to make this pinhole pancake lens after the jump. And don’t forget to share your results when you have them. Happy DIY-ing!

Samsung has been making interesting moves in the in the photography world recently. Their NX cameras have all been really well designed and innovative so far. Along with these cameras, Samsung has also introduced some unusual but clever lenses. The 20mm f2.8 pancake lens is one of them: a small and simple wide-angle lens with an uncommon equivalent angle-of-view of 30mm. Read our review to find out how it fares in everyday use.

Canon Watch has posted a couple of new lens design patents from Canon, that show concepts for zoom lenses for the EOS M mirrorless system. The lenses in question are an 18-40mm f3.5-5.6, and 18-55mm f4-8, a 10-20mm f4-5.6 and a 9-18mm f4-5.6. The interesting part about these lenses is that, according to the description, they’re supposed to be pancake lenses.

Pancake lenses have come into some popularity in recent years, and Canon has answered with their own version, the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM. Some may question the point of a fixed lens that is only f/2.8 these days, but there are plenty of reasons to pick up a lens such as this. I have quite enjoyed my time with the lens so far, and I am looking forward to spending a lot of time with it in the future. Read on for my review of this little (and I do mean little) lens.

Pancakes! Everybody loves them, right? Well someone at Canon sure does because they have finally given us a pancake lens for the EOS system. The EF 40mm f/2.8 STM is a full-frame lens (it of course works on APS-C bodies as well). So is this tiny lens a worthwhile addition to your lineup? Read on for my first impressions. [click to continue…]